Trash remover for cotton gin



May 13, 1958 c. J.. RAYNOR TRASH REMOVER FOR COTTON GIN Original Filed June 16, 1955 SUCTION SOURCE Fig. 2 Charlie J. Raynor INVENTOR. M

WWW Mm TRASH REMOVER FOR COTTON GIN Charlie J. Raynor, Rocky Mount, N. C.

Original application June 16 1953, Serial No. 361,904,

now Patent No. 2,743,484, dated May 1 1956. Divided and this application April 16, 1956, Serial No. 578,416

Claims. (Cl. 19-55) This is a division of my copending application Serial No. 361,904, filed on June 16, 1953, from which my Patent No. 2,743,484 has issued.

The invention relates to a trash remover and particularly to a device for removing trash from the interior of cotton gins.

In the operation of a cotton gin it is customary to provide a cylinder of linter saws for the removal of lint from the seed or other raw cotton material. It is also customary to provide a roll box so that the cottom is presented to the linter saws and represented as often as is necessary to secure complete cleaning of the seed or other trash in the raw cotton. While cotton gins are provided with means for removing the clean seed and other trash from the material presented to the saws it frequently happens that the roll box becomes substantially choked with trash or other foreign material which gravitates in the center of the roll box and eventually produces choking action therein which not only reduces the rate of flow of the raw cotton through the machine but in extreme cases may choke down the roll box and force a shut down of the machine. The present invention provides a trash removing means for removing this extraneous or foreign material from the center of the roll box and also for eliminating loose trash from the roll box. This is accomplished by means of providing a perforated roll box with breaker or beater members positioned adjacent to the exterior of the roll box so that any foreign material which should be in the roll box will be caught in the perforations and broken off and carried away by the beaters exterior thereto. Likewise a perforated cylindrical member or -tubular member is provided within the central portion of the roll box so that the trash or other material which gravitates in the center of the roll box will be forced through the perforations of the tubular member and a breaker will be provided for the purpose of sweeping the interior surface of the tubular member so that any trash or foreign material which becomes stuck in the perforations will be broken off and carried away into the tubular member. A conveyor, for example a spiral conveyor, is provided within the tubular member and is preferably on the axis of the breaker member so that a combined breaker and conveyor member will be provided within the interior of the tubular member to convey any trash or other such material to the exterior portion of the cotton gin. It will usually be found desirable to provide a fan or other air pump and a suitable connection from the pump to the interior of the tubular member so that any lightweight material caught in the tubular member will be readily drawn thereth'rough while the heavier material will be readily carried along by the air force and the assistance of the spiral conveyor. It is accordingly a further object of the invention to provide a cleaner for a cotton gin and means for removing trash from the roll box thereof.

The following advantages are realized by the invention: Fire hazards are reduced due to the removal of Unite tates Patent "ice 2,834,057 Patented May 13, 1958 pieces of wire, iron, sto'nes, etc. before they reach the ribs and teeth of the saws; the saw teeth are not broken by such foreign objects making for better samples; the roll of seed in the roll box becomes automatic in that the same quantity of seed ismai'ntained in the roll box at all times even when there is no cotton coming into the roll box; the gin never loses roll of seed; there is no choking be tween ribs, not even with wet cotton; and production is very materially increased.

These-together withother objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a cross sectional view through a typical cotton gin stand according to the invention; and

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 2--2 of Figure 1, the section line extending through the roll box showing the disposition of the central tubular trash remover and the application of trash removing apertures to the defining surface of the roll box.

In the exemplary embodiment 'of the invention a cotton cleaning machine indicated as gin stand 10 is provided with a cylinder of linter saws 12 mounted on an axle 14 and driven by any suitable means as is well known in this particular art. Raw cotton is fed into the delivery or feed chute 16 from above and in the embodiment of the machine shown herein the cotton 18 in chute 16 is presented to the surface of the saws by means of a feeder cylinder 20 having feeder fingers 22 thereon.

These fingers are so positioned that the heavy foreign material or hulls as at 24 may readily fall between the fingers 22 and be carried away from the machine while the cotton bolls or other raw cotton will be subjected to feeding by the surface of the saws 12. Such is fed into the roll box 26 defined by the combs 28 for admitting the raw cotton and the grate fall 30 through which the linter saws 12 deliver the cotton material stripped from the raw cotton.

Roll box 26 is further defined by walls 32 and 34 and the seed boards 35. The roll box defining member walls 32 and 34 together with seed boards 35 are formed with perforations 36 and 38 so that the lighter trash within the roll'box 26 may be readily projected outwardly through these perforations and carried away.

Breaker devices or wipers are provided adjacent to the exterior surface of the perforated portions of walls 32 and 34. An example of such devices is seen in the drawing where there is a breaker or wiper reel 40 containing fingers 42 adapted to sweep adjacent to the exterior surface of wall 32 and to carry away the trash therefrom. Likewise wall 34-has a breaker reel or wiper 44 provided with fingers adapted to sweep adjacent to the exterior or outer surface of the perforated wall '34 to break off and carry away any trash which protrudes through the apertures 38. Each of these reels is preferably elongated extending longitudinally of the roll box 26.

A free floating hollow cylinder or tubularmember 50 is provided with apertures 52 and is positioned substantially axially in the roll box 26 and at approximately the center thereof so that any of the trash working to the center of the roll box may be readily passed through the apertures 52 and into the interior of the tubular member 50. An axle 54 is mounted within the tubular member 50 and extends therethrough. A breaker member or wiper 56, preferably .in the form of aspiral band is mounted on the axle 54 and when the axle 54 is 1'0- the apertures 52 will be readily broken away and carried into the tubular member 50. A suction connection 62 is on the end of tubular member 50 and is connected to a suitable source of suction, such as a fan or any air pump. As an alternative or in addition, a discharge opening with a closure 61 are at the end of member 56 so that the trash may be gravity discharged. Conveyor 63 schematically represents the additional means to dispose of the trash.

The head box 64 is attached at the other end of the tubular member 50 and apertures 65 are in the head box so that an air stream may be carried through the tubular member 50 to assist in the conduction of dirt and trash therethrough. On the other hand, the head box may be made without perforations or openings so that the air will be drawn entirely through the roll box 26 and into the tubular member 50 in order to assist in directing trash thereinto.

In the operation of the cotton gin according to the invention, the raw cotton either as bolls or in other manner is fed into the roll box 26 by any means, the disclosure herein being that the cotton is propelled thereinto by means of the feeder roller 20 and assisted by the saws 12. The clockwise rotation of the saws 12 causes counterclockwise rotation of the cotton in the roll box and at the same time they strip the lint from the cotton seed which falls between the saws 12 and outwardly through the chute 66 to be disposed in any manner. The rotation of the cotton causes the tubular member 50 to rotate. Therefore, the rotation of the tubular member 50 varies in proportion to the speed of the saws. The tightness of the roll of cotton also changes the speed of member .50. The staple cotton removed from the seeds will be delivered through the chute 68 to be disposed of in any desired manner. Lint and other material taken from the roll box by the saws will be delivered over the top of chute 68 and into a lint collecting chamber 70 where the lighter lint is drawn through a suction throat 72 and delivered through an air passage 74 for any desired disposal, while the trash and other dirt falls to the bottom of chamber 70 and is removed by means of a spiral conveyor 76 located at the bottom thereof.

The operation in the roll box 26 causes the light trash to move against the exterior surface where it will be delivered through the apertures 36 and 38 and removed by means of the breaker reels 40 and 44 so that it will be delivered to a point remote from the gin stand 10. The heavier trash moving to the interior of the roll box 26 is delivered through apertures 52 into the interior of the. floating cylindrical member mounted on member 56, and is carried away by means of conveyor band 56 and the air stream flowing through the tubular member 50. The band 56 rotating adjacent to the inner surface of the cylindrical member 50 will break off and destroy any foreign object protruding through the apertures 52 which is not sufficiently small to readily pass therethrough.

In this manner the trash within the raw cotton will be delivered to the exterior of the roll box so that the operation of the linting or cleaning machine is expedited and a minimum flow of cotton into the roll box may be maintained. Further, the removal of trash from the roll box not only accelerates the raw cotton into and consequently out of the cleaning machine but also removes any trash or impurities so that the lint produced will not be degraded by the presence of trash therein.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

l. A trash remover for a cotton gin having a roll box comprising a hollow cylinder positioned substantially axially in said roll box, said cylinder being perforated, a wiper rotatably mounted in said cylinder, means for driving said wiper, a perforated plate defining a surface of the roll box, and a wiper mounted adjacent and movable across the outer surface of the perforated plate to clean said surface.

2. A trash remover for a cotton gin having a roll box comprising a hollow cylinder positioned substantially axially in said roll box, said cylinder being perforated, a wiper rotatably mounted in said cylinder, means for driving said wiper, a perforated plate defining a surface of the roll box, a wiper mounted adjacent and movable across the outer surface of the perforated plate to clean said surface, and a conveyor associated with the perforated plate to conduct trash therefrom.

3. In a cotton gin having a plurality of cleaning saws and a roll box presenting cotton to the saws, a trash remover comprising a tubular member arranged substantially axially of said roll box, said tubular member being perforated, a wiper traversing the inner surface of said tubular member, a perforated cylindrical section defining a portion of the outer surface of said roll box, and a trash removal wiper moving adjacent the outer surface of said perforated section.

4. In a cotton gin having a plurality of cleaning saws and a roll box presenting cotton to the saws, a trash remover comprising a tubular member arranged substantially axially of said roll box, said tubular member being perforated, a wiper traversing the inner surface of said tubular member, a perforated wall constituting a part of said roll box, and a trash removal wiper reel journaled parallel to and in proximity with the outer surface of said perforated wall.

5. A cotton gin machine comprising a cylinder of cleaning saws, a roll box for presenting raw cotton to said cleaning saws, means for introducing raw cotton into said roll box, means for removing clean cotton from said saws, a tubular member mounted axially in said roll box said tubular member having trash passages thereon, a spiral member substantially contacting the inner surface of said tubular member, an air pumping means connected to said tubular member, a perforated member defining the outer surface of said roll box, and trash removal Wiper reels positioned in cleaning relation to the outer surface of said perforated member.

6. The trash remover of claim 3 wherein said tubular member is free floating on said wiper and is moved by rotating motion imparted thereto by the cotton that is rolled by said saws.

7. The trash remover for a cotton gin of claim 1, Wherein there is a perforated plate defining another surface of said roll box, and a second wiper mounted adjacent to and having at least a part movable across said another surface in order to clean the last-mentioned surface.

8. The trash remover for a cotton gin of claim 7, wherein there is a suction connection attached to an end of said cylinder, a trash discharge door in said suction connection from which trash may be obtained.

9. The trash remover for a cotton gin of claim 8, wherein there is a conveyor located adjacent to said door in order to propel the trash to a remote location.

10. The trash remover for a cotton gin of claim 1, wherein there is a suction connection attached to one end of said cylinder in order to conduct trash therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Raynor May 1, 1956 

